A>ct 


A  Nation  in 

m00/f^9BSSSS3SOKm^ 

Bondage 


and 


Stupendous  Issues 


Published  by 

LATIN-AMERICAN  NEWS  ASSOCIATION 
1400  Broadway,  New  York  City 


THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  MEXICO  CITY, 

Built  by  the  Indians,  During  the  Vireinal  Period.  Gardens  Recently  Rebuilt 
by  the  Constitutionalista  Government. 


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,y* 


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The  Land  Question 
in  Mexico 


The  Newark  News,  speaking-  editorially  before  war  broke  out 
with  Mexico,  said : 

“THE  ROOT  OF  THE  MEXICAN  QUESTION  IS  LAND. 
— Out  of  it  rise  all  other  questions,  including  international  diplo¬ 
macy.  THE  LAND  IS  HELD  BY  A  SMALL  WEALTHY 
CLASS  and  the  vast  foreign  concessionaries.  THE  PEON  CAN 
NOT  GET  IT.  Mexico  has  but  a  very  small  middle  class.  That 
class  forms  the  nucleus  of  the  revolution.  ITS  OBJECT  IS 
LAND.  The  landholders  and  concessionaries  form  the  Huerta 
government.  Its  object  is  to  hold  the  land  they  have. 

“Nothing  we  can  do,  or  nothing  any  other  outsider  can  do 
will  solve  this  question.  The  Mexicans  must  solve  it  themselves. 
EITHER  THE  PEONS  WILL  GET  LAND  OR  THEY  WILL 
GET  SO  THOROUGHLY  THRASHED  THAT  THEY 
WILL  NOT  TRY  TO  GET  IT.  *  *  * 

“The  problem  will  remain,  and  Mexico  alone  can  solve  it. 
IT  IS  LAND,  and  land  is  the  wealth  of  Mexico. 

“Men  like  Benton  represent  in  person  and  property  precisely 
the  cause  of  the  Mexican  upheavel.  They  typify  the  oppressors. 
Under  the  conditions  as  existing  they  must  conduct  themselves 
with  extreme  discretion.  Revolutions  are  not  child’s  play,  the 
uprising  of  a  people  held  down  is  a  scant  respecter  of  legal  claims 
and  legal  titles,  and  it  need  not  be  expected  to  be  otherwise. 
THERE  ARE  APPEALS  TO  THAT  RIGHT  THAT  LIE 
BEHIND  LEGAL  RIGHTS.  EFFORTS  TO  ADJUST  THAT 
WHICH  THE  FORMS  OF  LAW  HAVE  FAILED  TO  DO. 

“Until  the  legal  ways  are  open  by  which  the  great  mass  of 
the  Mexican  people  can  own  a  share  in  Mexican  property  and 
wealth,  it  will  be  idle  to  expect  of  them  the  stability  that  comes 
from  having  a  stake  to  lose.  They  will  be  like  propertyless  and 
landless  revolutionists  any  place  else.” 


The  New  York  Times,  speaking  editorially  on  April  3,  said: 

“The  chief  trouble  in  Mexico  is  agrarian.  MILLIONS  OF 
ACRES  of  land  which  might  be  made  arable  ARE  HELD  BY 
HACIENDADOES  WHO  DO  NOTHING  WHATEVER  TO- 
CULTIVATE  THEM  and  pay  little  or  nothing  for  the  support 
of  the  Federal  Government. 

“A  just  TAX  ON  LANDS  would  inevitably  compel  these 
hei  editary  lords  of  the  soil  to  part  with  much  of  their  hold¬ 
ings.”  *  *  * 

“In  spite  of  the  Constitution  of  1857  and  the  efforts  of  many 
liberators  the  masses  have  been  living  under  a  modified  feudal 
system,  SHUT  OFF  FROM  THE  RIGHT  TO  OWN  FARMS 
AND  WORK  THEM  FOR  THEIR  OWN  PROFIT.  *  *  * 

“A  LAND  TAX  is  the  FIRST  ESSENTIAL  STEP  toward 
peace  and  good  feeling  in  Mexico.” 

The  New  York  World,  also  speaking  editorially,  says: 

“THERE  WILL  BE  NO  PERMANENT  PEACE  IN 
MEXICO  UNTIL  THE  PEON  IS  ON  LAND  THAT  BE¬ 
LONGS  TO  THE  PEON  and  is  protected  in  his  ownership. 

“The  Mexican  problem  is  an  agrarian  problem.  The  great 
mass  of  people  are  living  under  feudalism.  THEY  OWN  NO¬ 
THING,  A  FEW  MEN  OWN  EVERYTHING.  There  are 
great  States  in  which  practically  all  the  land  is  in  the  hands  of 
A  DOZEN  PROPRIETORS,  and  the  peasant  population  lives 
in  semi-slavery. 

“Mexicans  dictators  have  been  generous  with  foreign  conces¬ 
sionaries.  They  have  sold  mines  and  oil  rights  and  franchises 
with  little  restraint.  THERE  ARE  MILLION-ACRE  ES¬ 
TATES  IN  MEXICO  FOR  WHICH  AMERICANS  AND 
OTHER  FOREIGN  PROPRIETORS  PAID  LESS  THAN 
TEN  CENTS  AN  ACRE;  BUT  THERE  IS  NOTHING  FOR 
THE  PEON.  He  is  systematically  robbed  of  the  fruits  of  his. 
labor,  and  only  his  rags  can  he  call  his  own.  *  *  * 

“What  is  going  on  in  Mexico  is  a  REVOLUTION  OF  THE 
COMMON  PEOPLE  AGAINST  DESPOTIC  PRIVILEGE. 
WHEN  PRESIDENT  WILSON  REFUSED  TO  RECOG¬ 
NIZE  HUERTA  HE  STOOD  WITH  THE  COMMON  PEO¬ 
PLE  AGAINST  THEIR  OPPRESSORS.  In  helping  to  bring 
about  a  mediation  that  will  restore  peace  and  establish  a  really 
representative  Government  that  will  do  justice  to  the  peon,  the 
President  is  still  standing  with  the  common  people.  THAT  IS 
WHERE  THE  UNITED  STATES  ALWAYS  BELONGS, 
and  it  will  be  a  sorry  day  for  this  country  when  its  Government 
deliberately  takes  the  other  side  in  such  a  quarrel.” 


TO  the  Mexican  the  Mexican  problem  is  not  one  of  diplomatic 
adjudication.  He  says  there  are  certain  things  that  can¬ 
not  to  be  arbitrated,  and  one  of  them  is  the  right  of  one  man 
to  keep  another  man  in  slavery  by  means  of  contracts  in 
which  the  slave  had  no  hand  in  the  making. 

To  the  Mexican — that  is  to  almost  all  of  the  Mexicans  who 
are  not  in  conspiracy  with  American  and  Europeans — the 
trouble  is  that  by  some  hook  or  crook  everything  worth  owning 
in  Mexico  is  owned  by  foreigners. 

The  Mexicans  own  nothing.  They  get  nothing.  They  work 
all  the  year  round,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  they  are  no 
better  off  than  they  were  at  the  beginning. 

Often  they  are  worse  off,  for  they  are  in  debt  at  the  company 
store.  Millions  and  millions  of  wealth  go  annually  from  the 
country  as  a  result  of  their  labors  but  none  of  it  stays  at  home. 
The  men  who  get  the  wealth  have  for  the  most  part  never  set 
foot  in  Mexico.  Many  of  them  have  never  invested  more  than 
a  few  thousand  dollars  and  that  has  gone  in  bribes  or  corruption 
to  high  officials. 

For  such  an  insignificant  investment  the  foreigner  got  con¬ 
trol  of  the  country.  He  owned  everything  worth  owning — the 
railroads,  mines,  oil  wells,  gold  and  silver  mines,  plantations,  etc. 
He  even  owned  the  government  itself  up  to  1910,  which  was 
thrown  in  for  good  measure.  With  the  government  he  obtained 
control  of  taxation  which  he  used  to  exempt  the  things  he 
owned  from  taxation.  That  was  the  trick  Lord  Cowdray  played 
in  the  oil  business.  Mexico  lost  all  local  taxes  on  5,000,000 
acres  of  oil  land  and  all  her  export  duties  as  well. 


THE  SLAVERY  OF  THE  PEONS 

When  the  peon  went  to  the  store  to  spend  the  little  that  he 
was  given  for  his  labor  he  spent  it  at  the  company  store  owned 
by  a  Frenchman  or  a  German.  When  he  wanted  a  loan  for  the 
planting  or  the  harvesting  of  his  crops  he  only  secured  it  at 
usurious  interest.  Along  with  these  economic  conditions  that 
are  not  so  complex  but  that  even  an  ignorant  Mexican  can 
understand  them,  the  foreigner  gave  him  an  oppressive,  cruel 
and  murderous  government.  He  gave  him  Diaz;  he  gave  him 
Huerta;  he  would  like  to  call  them  back  again,  for  Mexico  was 
so  “peaceful,”  “contented”  and  “happy”  then. 


3 


That  Is  what  the  foreigner  wants  in  Mexico  to-day.  He  does 
not  disguise  it.  He  honestly  believes  that  it  was  good  for  Mexico 
to  be  owned  by  outside  capital  and  the  people  to  be  kept  in 
ignorance  and  poverty  for  their  own  good. 

The  fact  is  that  Mexico  was  just  like  France  prior  to  the 
French  Revolution,  only  the  seigneurs  of  Mexico  did  not  have 
the  virtue  of  being  Mexican.  They  lived  abroad  instead  of  at 
Mexico  City.  They  gambled  the  rents  wrung  from  their  Mexican 
serfs,  not  only  on  the  gaming  table  but  on  the  stock  exchange 
as  well.  They  maintained  their  power  by  force  of  arms  and  no 
blithering  sentimentality  was  permitted  to  get  in  the  way  of 
standing  trouble  makers  up  against  the  wall  or  of  shooting  up  a 
whole  village  when  the  peons  tried  to  assert  their  ancestral 
right  to  the  common  lands  which  had  come  to  them  for  genera¬ 
tions,  but  which  Diaz  gave  away  to  his  financial  favorites  who 
need  cheap  labor  for  their  mines  and  who  could  secure  it  only 
by  depriving  the  peasants  of  their  own  land  so  that  they  would 
have  to  accept  the  wages  offered  them  or  starve. 

The  Mexicans  want  to  get  back  their  land  which  has  been 
taken  from  them  by  bribery  or  machine  guns.  And  they  are 
doing  it.  They  want  to  get  back  their  oil  wells,  gold  and  silvei 
mines  and  the  tremendously  rich  copper  deposits  of  the  North, 
and  they  are  doing  it. 

The  Mexicans  want  to  work  for  themselves  rather  than  for 
an  impersonal  foreign  corporation.  They  want  to  be  home 
owners  rather  than  tenants.  They  want  to  own  a  little  piece  of 
land  to  cultivate  and  pass  on  to  their  children.  They  want 
economic  independence  and  all  that  economic  independence 
implies. 

And  they  are  doing  this  by  ending  the  concessions  and  grants 
which  they  as  well  as  all  the  world  knows  were  for  the  most 
part  obtained  by  graft.  They  are  taxing  the  great  plantations, 
the  mines  and  the  oil  wells.  They  are  requiring  the  two  and  a 
half  billions  of  foreign-owned  property  to  contribute  to  the  sup¬ 
port  of  the  state.  They  are  taking  back  the  common  lands. 
They  are  giving  the  people  homes.  They  are  ending  franchises, 
grants  and  privileges,  and  they  are  doing  it  without  that  diplo¬ 
matic  finesse  that  financial  imperialism,  backed  by  their  diplo¬ 
matic  corps  and  navy,  they  are  accustomed  to. 


DIAZ  AND  HIS  “DEVELOPMENT”  PROGRAM 

Mexico  has  been  the  happy  hunting  ground  of  the  adventurer 
since  the  days  of  Spanish  conquest.  Egypt,  Morocco,  Tunis, 
South  Africa  do  not  compare  with  it  as  a  treasure  box.  Govern¬ 
ment  has  always  meant  merely  an  organized  system  of  robbery 


4 


and  exploitation.  It  gave  the  people  nothing,  it  took  everything 
the  people  had.  It  taxed  them  in  the  most  ruthless  ways ;  it 
spent  the  taxes  for  private  purposes  and  profit.  The  courts 
were  merely  another  instrument  for  enforcing  serfdom  along 
with  the  army.  Each  government  in  turn  played  in  with  the 
church,  the  big  plantation  owners  and  the  foreign  adventurers 
and  all  of  them  together  constituted  a  “system”  for  working  the 
peons  in  their  mines,  upon  their  estates,  at  starvation  wages,  and 
when  they  were  unruly  the  government  was  always  at  the  com¬ 
mand  of  the  big  interests  to  enforce  order  with  a  hireling  army 
with  machine  guns. 

Diaz  reduced  the  process  to  a  scientific  system.  He  termed 
it  “developing  the  country.”  The  development  meant  slavery 
to  the  people  and  the  giving  away  of  everything  of  value  in  the 
country.  There  were  friends,  relatives  and  favorites  to  be  seen. 
They  had  to  be  seen  or  nothing  came  through.  In  the  end  the 
Mexicans  were  dispossessed  of  one  of  the  richest  spots  on  the 
earth’s  surface,  and  Americans,  English,  French  and  German 
concession  hunters  possessed  grants  and  privileges  conservative¬ 
ly  estimated  to  be  worth  many  billions  of  dollars. 

The  concession  seekers  flocked  to  Mexico  with  the  coming 
of  Diaz  to  power  in  1876.  He  owed  them  everything  for  they 
made  him  master  of  Mexico.  They  enjoyed  34  years  of  almost 
uninterrupted  freedom  until  the  flight  of  Diaz  to  Paris  in  1910. 


U.  S.  THE  BULWARK  OF  CONCESSIONAIRES 

During  all  these  years  the  United  States  was  unhappily  the 
bulwark  of  the  exploiting  interests.  The  Mexican  people  feared 
American  intervention  more  than  anything  else  and  this  fear 
kept  them  from  revolution.  And  the  colossal  grants  and  sub¬ 
sidies  for  railroads,  mines,  oil,  gold,  silver,  copper  and  land, 
judiciously  distributed,  identified  the  United  States  State  De¬ 
partment,  the  Senate,  the  press  and  the  people  of  the  United 
States  with  Diaz,  no  matter  what  his  outrages  might  be. 

Neither  the  financiers  of  Europe  nor  the  foreign  offices  of  the 
European  powers  can  teach  the  American  concession  seeker 
much  in  the  game  of  high  finance,  the  use  of  money  for  bribery 
and  corruption  or  the  turning  of  government  from  public  to 
private  ends.  The  years  which  followed  the  Civil  War  taught 
railroad  builders,  franchise  seekers,  land  grabbers  and  bankers 
all  of  the  tricks  of  that  trade.  And  they  carried  into  Mexico  all 
that  they  had  learned  in  the  building  of  the  Pacific  railway,  in 
the  corruption  of  our  cities  and  states,  in  the  distribution  of 
privileges  among  members  of  Congress  and  officials  in  high 
places. 


5 


The  United  States  during  the  years  that  followed  the  Civil 
War  was  a  training  school  for  the  exploitation  of  Mexico  which 
like  ripe  fruit  waited  only  to  be  picked  with  the  accession  of 
Diaz  to  power  in  the  year  of  our  Centennial.  The  trans-Pacific 
land  grabs  were  first  duplicated.  Diaz  was  under  obligation  to 
the  American  financier  for  placing  him  in  power.  He  paid  his 
first  debts  by  concessions  for  the  building  of  two  railroad  lines 
from  the  Texas  border  to  Mexico  City.  Land  was  given  for  the 
right  of  way  together  with  a  subsidy  of  $14,000  per  mile  or. 
level  country  and  $35,000  a  mile  in  rough  country.  This  was 
enough  in  itself  to  construct  the  road,  especially  as  forced  labor 
was  supplied  the  contractors  at  fifty  cents  a  day.  Growing  out 
of  these  concessions  Americans  now  hold  securities  in  the  rail¬ 
roads  of  nearly  $700,000,000. 


$150,000,000  PLUNDER 

Just  as  the  financiers  from  the  United  States  exploited  the 
Mexican  railroads  so  Great  Britain  enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  ex¬ 
ploitation  of  the  country’s  credit.  All  of  the  devices  learned 
in  Egypt  were  repeated.  There  was  nothing  that  the  French 
had  devised  in  Morocco  and  Tunis  that  was  not  duplicated. 
The  national  debt  was  inflated  by  the  recognition  of  Spanish 
claims  for  reimbursement  for  expenditures  made  in  the  Spanish 
campaign  against  the  insurgents  in  the  War  of  Independence 
and  other  claims  for  confiscated  estates  of  the  holy  orders. 
French  claims  were  made  for  some  trifling  damages  to  French 
citizens  and  property.  In  a  short  time  the  indebtedness  of  the 
country  was  increased  from  $20,000,000  to  $191,000,000,  of  which 
approximately  $150,000,000  represented  speculation  and  the  plun¬ 
der  of  speculators  and  private  interests  which  succeeded  in  hav¬ 
ing  their  claims  recognized. 

The  concession  seekers  were  insatiable.  The  oil  is  owned  by 
American  and  British  syndicates.  In  1900  the  country  produced 
no  oil  at  all.  Now  it  stands  next  to  the  United  States  and  Rus¬ 
sia.  The  Waters-Pierce  Company  is  the  largest  American  oil 
producing  company  in  Mexico.  Their  control  is  contested  by 
the  English  firm  of  Pearson,  now  Lord  Cowdray.  Pearson  had 
built  a  railroad  in  Mexico  and  secured  the  friendship  of  Diaz. 
He  obtained  concessions  for  oil  arid  pipe  lines  and  railroads. 
The  British  Admiralty  saw  in  Mexico  a  source  of  oil  for  fuel 
— a  source  not  likely  to  fail  in  war  time.  Pearson  was  elevated 
to  Lord  Cowdray  in  1910,  just  when  oil  was  beginning  to  come 
into  use  as  fuel  for  war  ships.  The  British  and  American  oil 
interests  have  ever  been  hostile,  and  in  a  price-cutting  war 
Cowdray  gained  the  upper  hand  just  as  Diaz  fell  from  power. 
Statistics  show  that  his  companies  control  58  per  cent,  of  the 
oil  output  of  Mexico.  American  interests  supplanted  Cowdray 


6 


in  official  circles  under  the  Madero  government,  but  when 
Huerta  came  into  power  the  tables  were  again  turned  and  Cow- 
dray  was  again  recognized.  According  to  his  own  statements 
he  gave  Huerta  support  and  even  subscribed  to  three  per  cent, 
of  the  loan  floated  by  him. 


TITANS  OF  OIL  INDUSTRY  GRAPPLE 

Back  of  the  revolutions  that  have  harassed  Mexico  for  the 
past  six  years  is  the  sinister  hand  of  the  American  and  British 
oil  interest  which  have  a  complete  monopoly  of  the  oil  in  that 
country.  How  colossal  the  stake  involved  is  and  how  cheap 
a  control  of  the  government  would  be  at  any  price  is  seen  in 
the  fact  that  the  oil  in  the  Tampico  district  alone  amounts  to 
5,000,000  acres  while  the  total  oil  land  operated  in  the  United 
States  amounts  to  but  8,300,000  acres.  The  capacity  of  a  single 
refinery  of  Lord  Cowdray  is  3,000,000  barrels  a  year. 

The  mineral  resources  are  almost  completely  under  foreign 
ownership.  Americans  dominate  large  areas.  The  capital  em¬ 
ployed  in  the  industry  is  about  $647,000,000,  of  which  about 
$500,000,000  is  American.  The  Northern  states  of  Mexico  are 
crowded  with  American  miners.  The  Guggenheims  now  operate 
a  dozen  mines  and  have  a  number  of  great  smelters.  There  are 
a  dozen  other  great  copper  interests,  of  which  Phelps  Dodge  and 
the  Green  Cananea  are  the  largest.  The  capital  of  the  copper 
mines  alone  runs  into  the  hundreds  of  millions.  American  capital 
controls  electric  light  and  power;  it  controls  the  street  railway 
lines  of  the  cities.  It  has  opened  up  gold  and  silver  mines. 
The  Mexican  rubber  industry  is  largely  American.  Ex-Senator 
Aldrich  was  greatly  interested  in  the  Continental  Rubber  Com¬ 
pany  which  largely  controls  this  industry.  Great  stretches  of 
timber  land  are  also  owned,  while  plantations  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  acres  have  been  acquired  in  the  Northern  states  by 
American  owners.  The  American  Consul,  Marion  Letcher,  of 
Chihuahua,  who  has  had  long  experience  in  Mexico  as  a  mining 
engineer,  places  the  American  investments  in  Mexico  in  1912  at 
$1,057, 770, 000  as  against  a  total  ownership  of  property  by  all  of 
the  Mexicans  of  but  $793,187,000. 


CAPITAL  OF  MEXICO  IS  N.  Y.,  N.  Y. 

The  capital  of  Mexico  is  not  Mexico  City,  it  is  New  York. 

What  would  the  people  of  America  think  if  all  of  the  wealth 
in  America  were  owned  by  Germans  and  practically  all  of  our 
100,000,000  people  were  day  laborers  under  German  foremen 


7 


with  no  hope  of  anything  better  for  their  children?  Germany 
would  be  no  more  popular  in  America  that  the  United  States  is 
in  Mexico.  j|  j§if| 

The  French  have  large  interests  in  Mexico.  According  to 
the  New  York  “Nation,”  French  interests  amount  to  more  than 
a  billion  dollars,  although  this  is  far  in  excess  of  the  estimates 
of  Consul  Letcher  who  places  them  at  but  $143,446,000.  How¬ 
ever,  the  latter  estimate  does  not  include  all  forms  of  wealth. 
The  French  are  large  owners  of  government  bonds,  banks,  rail¬ 
road  securities,  as  well  as  mills  and  factories.  The  banks  are 
largely  in  French  hands,  as  are  the  department  stores  of  the 
cities.  Mexicans  own  more  wealth  than  foreigners  in  very  few 
and  insignificant  industries  such  as  breweries  and  retail  stores. 
The  total  of  foreign  investments  in  Mexico  is  placed  by  Consul 
Letcher  at  two  and  a  half  billion  dollars,  or  three  times  the 
amount  of  wealth  owned  by  the  Mexicans  of  the  entire  country. 

Here  are  the  invisible  forces  that  want  intervention.  They 
work  like  sappers  underground.  They  are  influential  with  the 
press.  They  have  representatives  of  the  press  on  the  ground 
who  distort  news  and  make  the  public  opinion  of  the  United 
States.  They  have  convinced  a  large  part  of  the  American  peo¬ 
ple  that  the  only  way  to  secure  peace  in  Mexico  is  to  send  the 
army  and  the  navy  to  invade  the  country.  They  are  so  influen¬ 
tial  with  the  diplomatic  service  of  the  several  powers  that  they 
may  be  said  to  almost  control  it  and  as  this  is  the  only  official 
source  of  information  they  mislead  their  respective  governments. 
During  the  recent  war  scare  when  intervention  seemed  immi¬ 
nent,  the  Mexican  news  at  Washington  was  so  poisoned  that  it 
was  impossible  to  even  secure  a  hearing  for  Carranza. 


WILL  AMERICA  COUNTENANCE  SLAVERY  AGAIN? 

There  are  billions  at  stake.  They  have  been  largely  obtained 
by  fraud  and  corruption.  The  titles  are  tainted  with  bribery. 
Securities  are  almost  all  watered  out  of  all  semblance  to  the 
actual  investment.  The  properties  earn  enormous  dividends. 
Intervention  would  enrich  a  handful  of  Americans  by  hundreds 
of  millions  of  dollars,  possibly.  For  intervention  means  that 
the  status  quo  of  Diaz  would  be  confirmed.  His  grants  would 
be  validated.  The  country  would  again  be  made  subject  to  the 
concessionaires  and  speculators.  America,  not  Mexico,  would 
own  Mexico.  It  would  become  a  feudatory  nation  kept  in  sub¬ 
jection  by  the  American  army  which  would  become  a  private 
police  force  for  the  banking  and  speculating  interests  of  Wall 
Street. 


8 


“Firmness”  and  a  “strong  foreign  policy,”  the  protection  of 
American  property  and  American  people  is  merely  the  persiflage 
of  diplomacy.  It  is  part  of  the  jargon  of  high  finance.  It  means 
that  American  boys  will  be  taken  from  the  “home”  and  sent  to 
the  wilds  of  Mexico  for  years  to  subjugate  the  country;  to  police 
bandits,  to  hunt  down  revolutionists  like  our  own  Washington, 
Jefferson,  Hancock,  Adams  who  offered  their  lives  for  the  right 
of  our  people  to  pursue  life,  liberty  and  happiness  in  their 
own  way. 


STUPENDOUS  ISSUES 

THE  EVIDENCE 

CHAPTER  I 

Roman  Catholic  Prelates  in  the  United  States  are  fighting  the 
Administration,  aided  by  the  Republican  Organization. 

At  Boston,  Massachusetts,  on  November  15th,  1914,  Cardinal 
O’Connell  in  an  address  to  the  Federation  of  Roman  Catholic 
Societies  said : 

“The  Administration  in  this  country  has  at  last  done  some¬ 
thing  to  insure  the  safety  of  our  nuns  and  priests  in  Mexico  from 
the  brutal  rapacity  and  barbarism  of  those  savages  who  for 
more  than  a  year  past  have  conclusively  proved  their  absolute 
unfitness  to  govern.  But  the  good  work  is  far  from  finished. 

“And  when  the  truth  is  known  then  all  the  world  will  realize 

that  for  the  sake  of  our  public  honor  as  a  nation  WE  MUST 
PUT  AN  END  TO  THE  MASONIC  CONSPIRACY  which 
has  for  two  years  deluged  Mexico  with  blood,  drained  the  ma¬ 
terial  resources  of  that  country  and  spread  atheism  and  anarchy 
over  a  land  once  happy  and  industrious.”* 

Later,  in  1915,  when  seven  of  the  Pan-American  Govern¬ 
ments,  including  our  own  Government,  Were  about  to  recognize 
the  Carranza  Government,  the  following  cablegram  was  pub¬ 
lished  throughout  the  United  States : 

“Rome,  October  9,  1915. — Pope  Benedict  received  in  private 
audience  yesterday  the  Most  Rev.  Francisco  Orozoy  Jiminez, 
Archbishop  of  Guadalajara,  Mexico,  together  with  Monsignor 
Francis  C.  Kelley  of  Chicago,  President  of  the  Catholic  Exten¬ 
sion  Society  in  the  United  States.  The  visitors  presented  an  im¬ 
portant  plan  in  connection  with  THE  CHURCH  IN  MEXICO. 

“The  Pope  showed  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  situation  as 
regards  the  Mexican  clergy,  and  praised  the  generosity  of  Amer¬ 
ican  catholics  (the  American  Hierarchy)  in  the  help  they  are 
giving  their  co-religionists  (fellow  priests)  in  Mexico.” 

A  few  months  later  the  following  statement  by  Cardinal 
Gibbons  was  published  throughout  the  land : 

“They  will  never  cease  fighting  in  Mexico  under  Carranza. 
I  have  no  confidence  in  the  man.  The  situation  is  a  crime  against 
civilization.  We  have  tried  in  every  way  to  get  help  to  those 

*  For  the  history  of  the  conflict  between  Liberal  Societies  and  the  Roman 
Catholic  Hierarchy,  consult  Political  Romanism,  by  Publicity  Bureau  for  the 
Exposure  of  Political  Romanism,  C.  Bradway,  Manager.  400  pages.  75  cents 
in  paper  covers,  $1.00  in  cloth.  Masonic  Hall,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


10 


suffering  from  the  warring  factions  in  Mexico,  and  even  now 
have  $220,000  in  hand  to  help  them,  but  we  cannot  get  it  to 
them.”  (N.  Y.  Times,  January  9,  1916). 

On  March  4th,  1916,  the  New  York  Times  published  excerpts 
from  a  Mexican  pamphlet  in  which  the  Roman  Catholic  prelates 
in  this  country  were  charged  with  helping  to  finance  a  counter 
revolution  in  Mexico,  to  be  conducted  under  General  Diaz.  The 
day  following  the  publication  of  these  charges  an  answer  was 
made  by  Cardinal  Farley,  of  New  York  City.  His  letter  was 
published  in  full  in  the  New  York  Times.  He  said: 

“I  frankly  admit  that  I  am  opposed  to  this  (Carranza)  Gov¬ 
ernment  which  has  established  itself  by  appealing  to  the  worst 
elements  in  the  country,  and  securing  its  power  and  ascendency 
in  the  early  stages  of  its  growth  by  disregarding  every  principle 
of  justice  and  morality.  And  I  am  confident  that  the  day  is  not 
far  distant  when  the  great  mass  of  the  Mexican  people  will  be 
released  from  the  tyrannical  yoke  imposed  upon  them!” 

The  counter  revolution  in  Mexico  under  General  Diaz  was 
started  as  the  pamphlet  had  predicted,  but  thus  far  it  has  failed. 

The  issue  is  now  up  to  you,  Mr.  Voter.  What  are  you  going  to  do  ? 

Nearly  a  year  ago  several  of  the  Roman  Catholic  papers 
referred  this  Mexican  question  to  the  voters.  For  example,  in 
New  Orleans  the  official  organ  of  the  Roman  Catholic  diocese, 

The  Morning  Star,  said : 

“Mr.  Wilson’s  recognition  of  Carranza,  the  avowed  enemy 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  is  an  insult  to  the  Catholics  in  this  coun¬ 
try.  It  is  a  direct  challenge  to  them,  and  we  hope  that  not  only 
Catholics  but  every  true  lover  of  freedom  WILL  GIVE  HIM 
SUCH  AN  OPEN  ANSWER  AT  THE  POLLS  as  will  prove 
to  him  that  no  President  of  the  United  States  can  so  flagrantly 
ignore  the  lawful  and  respectful  request  of  16,000,000  fellow 
citizens  WITHOUT  PAYING  THE  PENALTY.”  (Current 
Opinion,  Jan.  1916,  p.  45.) 

The  facts  are  that  the  Roman  Catholic  prelates  in  our  United 
States  are  opposed  to  President  Wilson’s  re-election,  and  there¬ 
fore  are  co-operating  with  the  Republican  Organization  and 
with  Big  Business  and  inherently  they  are  opposed  to  the  Pro¬ 
gressive  Movement.  Thus,  the  issue  is  squarely  drawn. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Reactionary  Republican  Campaign  in  Indiana. 

In  the  New  York  World  of  October  16th,  the  following  tele¬ 
graphic  letter  by  Louis  Seibold,  from  Indianapolis,  Indiana,  says : 


11 


“The  Republican  plan  of  campaign  has  been  predicated  on 
the  theory  that  with  the  assistance  of  the  voters  of  Teutonic 
origin  and  those  of  the  Catholic  faith  and  sympathies,  and  with 
the  union  of  the  regular  and  Progressive  factions  of  their  party, 
they  are  sure  of  victory  in  spite  of  the  heavy  handicaps  imposed 
by  Mr.  Hughes  and  Colonel  Roosevelt. 

“It  is  assumed  by  the  Republican  leaders,  who  are  openly 
courting  the  hyphenate  AND  CATHOLIC  VOTERS,,  that  the 
influence  to  which  voters  of  those  classes  ordinarily  respond  will 
lead  them  to  rebuke  the  Democratic  President  for  his  refusal  to 
surrender  to  the  dictation  of  either. 

Catholics  and  Mexico. 

“The  only  interest  displayed  by*voters  in  the  relations  of  the 
Administration  with  Mexico  has  obviously  been  inspired  by  a 
propaganda  inaugurated  by  professional  Roman  Catholic  agi¬ 
tators.  It  is  the  view  of  unprejudiced  observers  that  the  leaders 
and  spokesmen  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Indiana  are  opposing 
the  President  because  of  his  refusal  to  comply  with  their  demands 
that  he  compel  obedience  by  the  Carranza  regime  to  the  ambi¬ 
tions  of  the  church  leaders,  even  if  such  insistence  requires  a 
resort  to  force  and  intervention. 

•  , 

This  movement,  which  is  assuming  widespread  proportions 
throughout  the  country,  particularly  in  the  West,  is  being  ex¬ 
tensively  exploited  by  the  Republican  managers  in  Indiana. 

An  observer  is  informed  that  ‘the  church  is  opposed  to 
Mr.  Wilson’;  that  ‘every  priest  in  the  country  is  secretly  coun¬ 
selling  his  parishioners  to  vote  for  Mr.  Hughes,’  and  ‘that  Car¬ 
dinals  Gibbons,  Farley  and  O’Connell  are  fully  aware  of  the 
undertaking  and  are  in  sympathy -with  it.’  .  .  . 

“.  .  .  No  word  has  come  from  any  of  the  dignitaries  of  the 
church  to  instance  their  disapproval  of  the  uses  to  which  the 
professional  agitators,  who  assume  to  speak  for  it,  are  making 
of  its  influences. 

Indiana  is  being  flooded  with  literature  intended  to  influence 
the  minds  of  Catholic  voters.  A  thick  volume  distributed  by 
‘The  Catholic  Church  Extension  Society  of  the  United  States 
of  America’  contains  some  outrageous  attacks  on  the  President, 
questioning  both  his  personal  and  official  motives  in  dealing  with 
the  Mexican  problem. 

“It  is  entitled  ‘The  Book  of  Red  and  Yellow,’  and  the  author¬ 
ship  of  it  is  credited  to  Francis  Clement  Kelley.  It  is  published 
in  Chicago  and  several  Catholic  clergymen  are  given  as  sponsors 
for  it.  The  brochure  has  this  sub-title:  ‘Being  a  Story  of  Blood 
and  a  Yellow  Streak.’ 


12 


“There  is  little  question  that  this  publication  and  others  of  a 
similar  nature  and  purpose  have  exercised  considerable  influence 
over  the  minds  of  a  great  many  voters. 

“Henry  Lane  Wilson,  former  Ambassador  to  Mexico,  is  chief 
promoter  of  the  Catholic  propaganda  against  President  Wilson. 
He  has  established  himself  here  to  direct  it.  Under  his  instruc¬ 
tion  literature,  moving  pictures  and  cart-tail  oratory  are  being 
provided  by  the  Republican  campaign  managers. 

“The  ex-Ambassador  is  confident  that  the  majority  of  the 
Catholic  clergy  are  antagonistic  to  the  President.  He  told  one 
of  his  callers  to-day  that  TWENTY-THREE  OUT  OF  THE 
THIRTY  CATHOLIC  CLERGYMEN  OF  INDIANA  WERE 
USING  THEIR  INFLUENCE  AGAINST  THE  PRESIDENT 
AND  IN  THE  INTEREST  OF  MR.  HUGHES.” 


CHAPTER  III 

Roman  Catholic  Prelates  in  the  United  States  are  fighting 
against  freedom  for  the  Philippine  people,  aided  by 
Big  Business  and  the  Republican  Organization. 

An  outline  of  Philippine  history  is  set  forth  in  our  opening 
statement.  The  undisputed  evidence  shows  that  the  Roman 
Catholic  prelates  in  the  United  States  are  fighting  against  free¬ 
dom  for  the  Philippine  people,  aided  by  Big  Business  and  the 
Republican  Organization.  The  Republican  platform  is  as  follows : 


RENEWAL  OF  CONQUEST  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES. 

“We  renew  our  allegiance  to  the  Philippine  policy  inaugurated 
by  McKinley,  approved  by  (a  Republican)  Congress,  and  con¬ 
sistently  carried  out  by  Roosevelt  and  Taft.” 

Here  is  a  flat-footed  declaration  for  the  policy  of  Conquest 
and  the  holding  of  Subjects,  the  exact  opposite  of  Republicanism 
and  Democracy.  The  existing  Democratic  National  Government 
has  promised  independence  to  the  people  of  the  Philippines,  and 
more  and  more  of  their  citizens  are  being  placed  in  charge  of 
their  own  government.  On  July  7,  1916,  the  Associated  Press 
stated  that  “some  of  the  biggest  shifts  in  the  personnel  of  the 
Government  of  the  Philippines  in  recent  years  are  now  occur¬ 
ring.  (N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  Aug.  5,*  1916.) 

The  difference  between  qiding  the  people  of  the  Philippine 
Islands  to  become  free — self-governing  as  rapidly  as  they  are 
able,  under  a  promise  of  thus  aiding  them,  and  the  opposite 
policy  of  conquest  — the  taking  possession  of  a  people  as  politi- 


13 


cal  slaves  and  continuing  to  hold  them  as  such,  is  of  transcen¬ 
dental  importance.  Only  the  reactionists  or  the  misinformed 
have  insisted  that  the  promise  of  freedom  be  withheld.  AND 
THE  REACTIONISTS  IN  THIS  COUNTRY  ARE  THE 
ONES  WHO,  THROUGH  THE  ILLEGITIMATE  USE  OF 
MONEY  AND  THE  AID  OF  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC 
HIERARCHY,  HAVE  FOR  TWENTY  YEARS  OR  MORE 
DOMINATED  THE  REPUBLICAN  NATIONAL  CON¬ 
VENTION  AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  NATIONAL  GOV¬ 
ERNMENTS.  ONE  OF  THE  RESULTS  WAS  THE 
BUILDING  UP  OF  THE  VAST  PRIVATE  MONOPOLIES 
IN  THIS  COUNTRY,  THE  TRUSTS,  THEREBY  ROB¬ 
BING  OUR  OWN  PEOPLE.  But  in  1910  these  few  lost  con¬ 
trol  of  the  National  House,  and  two  years  later,  1912,  lost  control 
of  the  Senate  and  the  White  House.  That  year  the  People  made 
a  clean  sweep.  Some  of  the  changes  in  legislation  that  have 
since  come  about  are  described  in  this  pamphlet. 

This  year  is  the  first  Presidential  election  since  the  Reaction¬ 
ists  were  turned  out  of  power  and  the  subject  matter  of  this 
year’s  Republican  National  Platform  completely  demonstrated 
the  fact  that  these  few  dominated  the  Convention  which  put  it 
forth.  One  portion  of  this  evidence  is  the  declaration  for  the 
establishment  of  conquest  in  the  Philippines ;  another  portion  of 
the  evidence  is  the  statement  “We  favor  (towards  Latin  Amer¬ 
ica)  a  continuance  of  Republican  policies” — policies  decidedly 
different  from  the  New  Pan  Americanism;  and  a  third  section 
of  the  evidence  is  the  declaration  for  the  conquest  of  Mexico. 
We  now  present  a  fourth  reactionary  plank  in  the  Republican 
platform. 


14 


Does  Mexico  Interest  You? 

Then  you  should  read  the  following  pamphlets: 

■  / 

What  the  Catholic  Church  Has  Done  for  Mexico,  by  Doctor 

Paganel  . 

The  Agrarian  Law  of  Yucatan . 

The  Labor  Law  of  Yucatan . 

International  Labor  Forum . 

Intervene  in  Mexico,  Not  to  Make,  but  to  End  War,  urges 

Mr.  Hearst,  with  reply  by  Rolland . 

The  President’s  Mexican  Policy,  by  F.  K.  Lane . 

The  Religious  Question  in  Mexico . 

A  Reconstructive  Policy  in  Mexico . 

Manifest  Destiny . . 

What  of  Mexico . . 

Speech  of  General  Alvarado . 

Many  Mexican  Problems . 

Charges  Against  the  Diaz  Administration . 

Carranza  . 

Stupenduous  Issues  . 

Minister  of  the  Catholic  Cult . 

Star  of  Hope  for  Mexico . 

Land  Question  in  Mexico . . 

Open  Letter  to  the  Editor  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  Chicago,  Ill. 

How  We  Robbed  Mexico  in  1848,  by  Robert  H.  Howe . 

What  the  Mexican  Conference  Really  Means . 

The  Economic  Future  of  Mexico . 

We  also  mail  any  of  these  pamphlets  upon  receipt  of  5c  each. 


$0.10 


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